While My Mandolin Gently Sleeps and 'Parkles

My "to do" list is long, long, long and I don't mind because I like lists. I also like to occasionally whittle down my lists. So, I think posting some of my goals to my blog might nudge me to take some action (or not). Case in point, that little flash mob thingy that we participated in last month. While that sort of thing was never a goal of mine (and neither is projectile vomiting) and I was ready to punk out right before we set out to perform, I was FOOLISH enough to post what we were doing to my blog and to FaceBook so I had witnesses and expectations. [Note to self: Keep your mouth shut! Also, never post fitness goals!] I hope everyone got a good laugh out of that experience. I know I did...

So anyway, I heard a song this morning that made me think about a goal I'd had long before I ever heard of a "Life List". It happened at a Rod Stewart concert several years ago; when I saw the mandolin solo in Maggie May I knew that I needed to learn how to play ASAP. Check out 4:22 on in this live performance. Doesn't that look like fun? (Of course Rod looks like he's having fun the whole time fluffing up his hair and bouncing around.). So I got a mandolin and thought about learning to play but that was it. [See also: my scrapbooking FAIL] I may have watched a training video with Scott (who is very musically inclined as is the rest of his family) but that's as far as it went. Oh SCOTT has picked up the mando a few times and probably knows how to play it by now (he plays the fiddle/violin and guitar also) but I am not even sure where it is right now. I'm guessing it's sitting beside the piano we bought off Craigslist a few years ago.

Sidestory: Our antique piano used to be in a Catholic church in Perry, OK and is over 100 years old. When we sought out to buy a real piano, Emi's piano teacher told me to ensure that each key worked. We drove to OKC and met with the very nice couple who said their daughter used the piano all through college and she got a music degree. We hit every key and each key worked (technically), so we loaded up the piano and were on our way for $375. Somehow we got the piano in the house (door frame never quite recovered) and placed the piano in a little nook in our office. I promptly set up an appointment with the recommended piano tuner to come by to tune the piano for $75. He hit a couple of the keys, looked under the hood and refused to tune the piano saying it needed to be restrung and would be a waste of time. I asked how much something that like that ran and he looked me in the eye and said "seven thousand dollars". Whoa! I fully expected the Dr. Evil pinky pose but he was serious.

We didn't get any other estimates to restring that piano, instead we opted to invest into a digital piano with weighted keys. We've discussed gutting the piano out and converting it into a wet bar. You can get the idea of what our piano looks like in this picture and you can also (possibly) make out my mandolin next to the guitar hiding on the left side of the piano.

The good thing about the mandolin AND the scrapbooking (AND the t-shirt quilt while we're at it) is that I can still come back to them when I'm ready.

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Last night I was reading to the Little Ones and I took a break to let them pick out their clothes for today. David picked out his Duke t-shirt, basketball shorts and his sneakers. Aubri picked out a simple pink dress and her blue glittery flip flops. We got back to The Jungle Book when I noticed Aubri rubbing her thumb and index finger together (as one would do if one were to have recently picked a booger from one's nose like one has been found to do on occasion). I asked her what was in her hand. She tried to show me and said "it's gone". I asked what it was (in a slightly accusing tone) and she said "a 'parkle".  ???  I asked her to repeat because  it didn't sound like "booger" to me and she repeated "'parkle". I was still confused until I saw her 'parkly flip flops nearby and realized that one of her SPARKLES had come off onto her finger when she was playing her her shoe... and cue the cuteness.